Hawaiʻi and Pacific Basin Area Health Education Center

About

Hawaiʻi and Pacific Basin Area Health Education Center (AHEC) supports travel and housing costs for students to perform training in rural areas (neighbor islands, US-affiliated Pacific Islands) during all years of school, as well as supports distance learning activities (video teleconferencing), and community based interdisciplinary training programs (one of the programs formerly called Ke Ola). AHEC also performs ongoing research in which students are invited to participate. The research areas include health workforce needs in the Pacific, factors influential in increasing pursuit of health science careers, training providers and patients about healthy lifestyle changes, and health needs of rural communities.

Other AHEC activities include recruitment to health science careers for students of all ages, as well as assistance with applications, finding financial support, research experiences and community partnerships, as well as providing continuing education, community health education and expanding community capacity to create programs to improve health.

AHEC is a federally funded program through the Health Resources and Services Administration. The federal mandate is to improve the diversity, distribution and quality of the health professions workforce. The mission of AHEC: To improve the health of the underserved through education. Activities focus on five primary areas:

Health Education and recruitment to health professions for students across the state from kindergarten through college

Educating health professions, students in rural and underserved areas, often in interdisciplinary teams